>So if the yield is +5% and the return is -5% would not the total income from this investment equal about 0%?

Not quite; first of all, if you want current data, go to Vanguard's site and select this fund. You don't need a Vanguard account to check this out.

The Yahoo data is as of Oct 31 so it's a little stale.

But the Return is net of the asset value change and the income. If you check the prices, the fund NAV lost roughly 10% over that period, and the yield was around 5% on Oct 31, based on current NAV, not the par of underlying bonds.

So, including your income over that period, you still lost around 5% of your net value in this fund. Not pretty.

BTW, the most current 7-day yield is 5.61%, based on the current NAV; not too shabby all things considered, and if there are no huge downside surprises coming (who can say?) it looks like a decent place to park some money.